PROVIDENCE, R.I—Richard Keene was a general in the U.S. Army’s Special Operations Command and, from attending war college, is knowledgeable about war. But, now retired, Mr. Keene was on May 10 being enlightened in ancient philosophies taught onstage at the Providence Performing Arts Center, where Shen Yun Performing Arts—a classical Chinese dance company that’s been touring the globe—just finished an afternoon show.
The general said the show resonated with him spiritually. He wasn’t alone.
The ancient legend told of a general like him, who changed his ways, stopped fighting, and became a Buddhist.
“It was just nice, just a great story. Someone who had been involved with killing and then found peace and enlightenment,” Mr. Keene told The Epoch Times after the show. “It’s very encouraging.”
He attended with his mother, Janet Keene, who said she loved the colorful costumes Shen Yun has become known for, which seem to exude light.
“It was very good, very fabulous, very bright, very colorful, very good,” she said. Would she come again? She said, “I think I'd crawl if I had to.”
David Gormley is an attorney who saw the same show as the general. Mr. Gormley knows a thing or two of today’s China; he has three girls who hail from there, the youngest of whom was just born recently. And he told The Epoch Times he appreciated the spiritual content Shen Yun had to offer today, among which was the cloud-bedecked opening scene where the Creator radiates light moments after the curtains first rise.
Mr. Gormley found it “enlightening” how Shen Yun portrayed the triumph of good over evil and a supreme being “watching us from above.”
“I thought the spiritual aspect was very, very good,” he said, likening it to his Christian belief. “I’m still digesting it in my mind. It was so fantastic.”
His wife, Ellen Gormley, who accompanied him, said she appreciated an ancient Chinese instrument called the erhu, which Shen Yun features with a soloist, but also some of the company’s new, digital projection technology, namely its animated 3D backdrop, which interacts seamlessly with dancers onstage.
“Very interesting to see the new mix of electronic media and live stage performance,” she said. “I thought the blending was done incredibly artistically and wonderfully.”
Christine Dillinger, a real estate broker, also felt a kinship between the ancient spirituality Shen Yun displays and Western religions; she said she found it uniting.
“It’s encompassing because it shows it doesn’t matter if you are Christian, Jewish, Buddhist, whatever,” Mrs. Dillinger said.
The style of dance—called classical Chinese dance—is very rich and expressive, and Shen Yun educates the audience on how many of the tumbling moves from gymnastics actually come from the Middle Kingdom and originate from classical Chinese dance. Each motion of the hand a dancer conveys meaning and allows the company to tell lucid stories—an idea Mrs. Dillinger said she loves.
“It makes the dancing more appreciated,” she said. “It gives a story of why they are dancing the way they are.”
